22-250 vs .223 for 500 meters and in.

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Jeff000

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For 500 meters and in is the 22-250 or 223 better?
It would be for target and gophers.

Both seem to be farily cheap and have little recoil, beond that I dont know much about either round.

I like the rem 700, but savage seems to be fairly good quality for much less.

Scope, I dont know anything at all about scopes.


I currently only have an STI Edge pistol.
 
Both are fine cartridges, deciding factor to me would be what rifle I could get in which.

If both are loaded to the top end, the 22-250 will suffer a higher rate of throat erosion, there is no free lunch, it burns extra powder to generate the higher pressure needed to get more velocity. The plus side of the argument is that for the same higher velocity, you get a slightly flatter shooting rifle with a reduced time of flight out to the longer range targets.

Either will yield spectacular results on gophers or other small varmints. Gophers often seem to turn into Chunky Soup when hit with a thin jacketed 3000 fps varmint bullet!
 
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Jeff000 said:
so shooting factory ammo the 22-250 will be faster? but burns hotter?

Sorry I guess I dont fully understand.
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Yes, the .22-250 is faster than a .223. As oldbadger is saying, you pay for that extra velocity with faster barrel erosion. If you look at the two rounds, the .22-250 is quite a bit bigger than a .223. A .22-250 will shoot a 55 gr. bullet at about 3650 fps, while a .223 will shoot that same bullet at about 3200 fps. The larger powder charge required by the .22-250 to gain that extra velocity will "burn" your barrel out before a .223 if shot under the same circumstances.
 
Both rounds will MIST a gopher at ranges beyond 500yrds, as others have mentioned the 22-250 runs hot,but is flatter shooting. The .223 ammo can be bought in large quantities cheaply compared to the 22-250 and if your like me you don't go gopher hunting by the box....Its a matter of how many cases and how many days do we have off. And in that manner .223 hands down.

just an opinion.
 
The choice may boil down to what is in stock. I have been looking for a new toy for myself and it will not be coming into Canada until....."will let you know".

Ballistically, both are wonderful with the edge going to the 22.250 inside 500yds. If you decide to go further, the edge would swing to the 223 by virtue of the faster twist in most factory barrels.

Short stubby bullets can never go fast enough to matter at LR. IF you had a fast twist 22/250, then it would win hands down for any distance.

For me, I would go with the 223 because I like to shoot lots and the smaller case will heat up the barrel slower. I really don't care much about throat life because I want performance and hate waiting for barrels to cool (sounds like a contradiction but isn't).

Give me a heavy barreled fast twist 223, lots of ammo and I will burn out that throat as fast as any 22/250. But will have a lot more bangs in the process.

Jerry
 
ok so when you say throat you mean the barrel?

I wouldnt shoot anything but factory ammo, so I dont think it would heat up as much as it could. and I would go heavy barrel for sure. But how shots could I take in say an hour safely? 1 a minute kind of thing? or only every 5 minutes?

so both are good, the 22.250 slighty better, but heats up faster. 223 is cheaper to shoot. and if the 223 could have a faster twist it would be even better, but then wouldnt the faster twist make more heat?
 
The twist rate is important because the faster twist stabalizes heavier bullets, which are more aerodynamic. The heavy barrel doesn't heat up as fast, but takes longer to cool as well. Even if you use only factory ammo, the 22-250 will heat up more than the .223; the former burns 50-75% more powder with equal bullet weights. You will feel the barrel getting warm to the touch; for example on my slim barreled 7mm RM, I can take 3 shots quite rapidly, but then I let the barrel cool for a good 5 to 10 minutes, or more if it is a very hot day.
 
I have a ar 180b(.223) i also have a rem 700 vs (22 250) If you are looking for explosion of guts and blood booth do well those little critters cant tell the diffrence of 500 fps if your only going to shoot factory rounds i would say get the 223 because that extra few fps wont make a diffrence to you (or you would be reloading) That being said if im looking for a toy I take the ar if Im going to do some serious shooting and killing I take my 250 they are 2 diffrent puropses to me but i always carry a cz 17 hmr for the close shots
I would tell you to go with the 223 and if you get into it ive heard the 223 AI is amazing
Daniel
 
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If you can try a Cooper

I have a cooper m21 and will shoot very accurate out to 500.
I have only got back there a couple times so need practice, but
can do 5/8 at 200, 1/4" at 100. I am light using 50 grn blitzkings
with a 14 twist, going to a 9 twist would accomodate 70 grn.
bullets and be much better.
223-22-250 are really 300 yd. rifles to get serious go 6 br for
target at 500.
Coopers Jo Brooks on Brandon Manitoba stocks them at times or usualy
has them coming in.
 
They are both fairly similar, so the choice is up to you, but dont go topping that remington or savage with a high power ultra expensive scope for long distance shooting. If you want something that will shoot fine, get a Tikka T3 varmint or something of the kind and top it with a medium quality bushnell. Voila!, you've got a rig thats more than apppropriate for gophers and targets. Be prepared to put about 900-1000 or more depending on the scope.
 
Jeff,
I pretty much grew up shooting a .22-250, love it. But for gopher shooting, and any other high volume shooting, it generates alot more recoil, even though it is light, and way more muzzle blast than a .223. As mentioned before, on gophers, etc, the velocity difference will not make much of a difference. Go with the .223, I bought a CZ527 Varmint and love it, less noise, muzzle blast, and less cost to shoot. And when you get to where you can even come close to hitting a gopher anywhere near 500yds, or when you consistently kill them much over 300yds, let me know, I will gladly buy you a beer!!
 
Ok I have done alot more reading and trying to search since I started this thread (Why cant I search for "22-250" or ".223"?).

And have come down to basically what I can get in.

But I keep hearing the 22.250 will burn the barrel faster, how much faster? if I dont heat the barrel too much about how many rounds would I expect? how many more could I get from the 223 with the same heat in the barrel?
Would a stainless barrel wear slower?

it would be heavy barrel in either cal.


I like the Savage with the choate stock, and Nikon or Lepould scope 6.5-20x40 I think.
Lepould rings and base, bipod
Should bring me in just under $2000
 
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But I keep hearing the 22.250 will burn the barrel faster, how much faster? if I dont heat the barrel too much about how many rounds would I expect? how many more could I get from the 223 with the same heat in the barrel?
Click to expand...
With the 22-250 you are going to have to put the rifle aside to cool about every 10 rounds or so. The .223 will allow you to shoot for hours except in the highest volume gopher field.
 
Suputin said:
With the 22-250 you are going to have to put the rifle aside to cool about every 10 rounds or so. The .223 will allow you to shoot for hours except in the highest volume gopher field.
Click to expand...


what about barrel life though?
 
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